Through The Eyes of Death & Time
by DandelionXF
Summary: Thor knew that there was some kind of foul magic at work when he felt recognition towards someone that he's never met before, let alone a mortal from Midgard. That suspicion proved to be right when Loki has a sudden interest in the same mortal as well. PURE TaserTricks.
1. Chapter 1

_Beating Heart_

_chapter completion time - 3:45 pm_

* * *

When Darcy woke up that morning, she had a feeling that something was off. It was that constant itch in the back of her brain that she quite couldn't scratch, but still annoyed the Hell out of her again, though this time it was irritating her more than usual. And not to mention the equally annoying buzzing sound that came along with it. She brushed it aside though and did her best to ignore this feeling as she watched Erik, whom as sitting across from her at the little breakfast table that Jane had in the middle of her lab. Apparently the poor old guy decided to go drinking with Thor last night after he broke him out of super-secret-government-jail. She winced and gave him a weak smile as she watched him drop a small white tablet into a glass of water and then begin a fizzy little explosion.

Her gaze was broken though when Thor approached the table and placed a plate of delicious, calorie stuffed pancakes in front of her and Erik, whom now was looking a little green around the gills as he stared at all the food in front of him. Like she said, poor guy; been there, done that.

"Thank you." she said happily.

"Thank you." Erik mumbled, now swirling the glass of fizzy water in his hand.

She looked up at Thor, whom had a big bear grin on his face, happy for being so helpful while doing so little. "You are very welcome."

Thor.

The big, gorgeous blonde dude that fell from the sky in a pretty amazing lightning/tornado/storm the night before last. It sounded like some kind of weird, kinky dream that she would normally have; that a man of Thor's stature should fall from the sky and then start screaming, "Hammer!", which basically makes no sense at all unless it were in her dreams. So it being real-life, and him stumbling around like a massive drunk, she could do the only sensible thing that she could think of. She tased him.

She had to admit, knowing him now she felt slightly bad for the action she took, but hey they guys was seriously sending off some freaky-ass vibes. It didn't help the fact that, like she said, he fell out of the freaking sky either.

That, and now that she thought back to it, it was when she first saw the light anomaly that brought Thor down to Earth that she first got the weird feeling in the back of her head. Today was a little different though, the itching becoming so annoying that she was ready to shove a skewer up her nose and poke her brain hoping that it would soothe her itch. She glared at her pancakes as she began slabbing as much butter and syrup over them as a mental picture of her trying to stab her own brain ran through her mind.

"Oh, man..." she mumbled chuckling to herself as she cut into her first pancake.

"What's so funny?" Erik grumbled cutting into his own pancake though Darcy saw that his bite was noticeably smaller than hers.

"Aww you know, just imagining what it would look like if I tried to stab my own brain like a sishkabob." she said happily taking a big bite.

Erik arched an eyebrow and looked at her strangely but then shook his head. "That's seems about right." he mumbled to himself as he pushed his plate of food away.

"Party a little too hard last night?" she asked taking a swig of her coffee. "The big guy doesn't' look phased at all by how much he drank."

"That's because the big guy is just that, big." he said glaring at her and standing up to follow Jane over to where all of her research was scattered out across a large table. "It's a beautiful theory Jane, but you'll have a hard time proving it to the scientific community. Not without hard evidence."

"What do you mean without hard evidence?" she asked her voice rising slightly. "What do you think Thor is?" she said, motioning over her shoulder to the blonde that was now washing dishes.

"Uh, a maid dressed like a really beefed up lumberjack?" Darcy suggested coming to stand by Jane's side with a cup of coffee still steaming between her hands.

"Not funny Darcy." Jane scolded, though Darcy could tell that it was half-hearted. "If I only had all the data that I compiled before S.H.I.E.L.D came and swept it all away." she mumbled as she looked at the little bit of research she was able to create from the small notebook that Thor returned to her.

Darcy didn't have the heart to say anything else to her best-friend/boss, but was instead distracted by the sudden sound of knocking on glass as she, Jane and Erik looked up to see four people at their front door, all whom looked like they should be at Comic Con and not New Mexico. She and Erik dropped their cups of coffee in surprise as they watched Thor rush by them and embrace the four strangers as they walked in the front door.

"My friends!" he called as they rushed in, smiles large on their faces.

"This is good, this is good." said the large red-haired dude, with the pot belly and beard that Darcy had only seen on people twice his age. "Ah! Excuse us!" he said turning around to see Darcy, Jane and Erik. "Lady Sif and the Warriors Three." he said smiling boldly as he along with the otherse bowed slightly before turning back to Thor.

"My friends," Thor said catching their attention again, "I've never been so glad to see anyone. But should not have come."

Darcy felt a little sting of pity when she saw the happy expressions fall the four strangers faces. "We- we're here to take you home." the suspiciously good-looking blonde guy said.

"You know I cannot go home. My father is dead because of me, so I must remain in exile."

_Well, that was a new one_, Darcy couldn't' help but think as she looked down at the forgotten puddle of coffee and broken glass pieces all over the floor at her feet.

"Thor," the chick with the long black hair in the ponytail began, "your father still lives."

Darcy leaned over and whispered in Jane's ear. "That chick totally has the hots for him, you can soooo tell."

"Shut up Darcy." Jane said pushing her away as she looked back to Thor and saw the furious expression that now covered his face.

The loud boom of thunder sounded off in the distance, silencing everyone's words as they all rushed to the glass walls that surrounded Jane's lab. "Should we be expecting anyone else?" Darcy asked as Thor and the others went outside.

"Jane, you and Darcy and Eric must leave this place at once."

"I'm not leaving." Jane said and Darcy mentally pictured her friend stomping her foot like a child just then.

"Wait a minute." Darcy said coming to her side, "What's going on?" she asked looked at the suspicious tornado landing just miles out of the town. "Cause that thing out there looks like the thing that brought biggin here." she said pointing to Thor. "Is something else coming?"

"I'm staying here." Thor said ignoring her question and normally Darcy would have been a little put off by this, but she couldn't help but feel her stomach roll at the sense of urgency that she saw on his face.

"Then I'm staying too!" Jane said.

"Thor's going to fight with us!" Blondie number two said with a little too much excitement on his face.

"My friends," Thor said pulling them together in a huddle, "I am just a man and will only get in your way or worse get killed. But I can help these people get to safety. We'll need some time."

"And you'll have it!"

Darcy didn't get a chance to say much more as suddenly Thor was in between Jane and herself and had both of their hands clasped within his larger ones and was pulling the two of them away from the center of the street.

"Come," Thor said pulling them along, "we have to help get these people out of here."

It was a rush, helping Thor and Jane load families into as many vehicles as they could. She had just ran out of a nearby building right after the shocked family that was before her; father and his two small children and lead them over to where Thor and Jane where helping load others into a silver pickup.

Darcy felt the more than heard the explosion and turned to watch as Thor's new friends walked calmly down the now burning and destroyed street towards a giant, and she meant giant, metal figure that was blasting everything and anything out of it's way from a beam of light that was coming out of it's face.

"Woah," she gasped in awe as she watched another small explosion and then a small sedan go flying through the air.

"Darcy!" she heard Thor growl just before she felt his hand latch onto her upper arm and begin to pull her backwards.

The three of them began running then, back to Jane's lab where Erik was and Darcy looked over her shoulder just in time to see the red-haired dude being thrown several feet through the air towards the metal giant. They stopped quickly behind an overturned vehicle and watched as the giant simply backhanded Thor's friend as if it were swatting a fly out of the air. It was then that she caught a figure jumping off a building beside the giant before landing on its back and shoving a nasty looking sword-spear thing through it's back right between it's shoulder blades.

"Yeah!" Darcy yelled jumping up from her hiding place and throwing a fist into the air. "That's how you do it. Boys take note." she said looking down at Thor with her hands on her hips, smiling.

She looked back to the chick who was now looking back at her, a smirk plastered on her face. That quickly disappeared though when Darcy saw the woman look back down at her prey, shock flashing across her face as the metal man below her turned not only it's head around, but as well as it's entire body and then blasted her promptly off her back.

"Oh my god!" she chocked out as Thor grabbed her arm again and yanked her back down.

"We have to move!" Thor shouted once again grabbing her and Jane's hands once more and pulling them along. "Erik, this way!" he called over his shoulder as they reached the side of the building before Jane's lab.

The four of them reached the building just in time as the giant blasted another beam of light down the street at Thor's friends'; the effect cast the Warriors Three one direction and Lady Sif the other. Slowly, the Warriors Three tried to reach their friend, but just as they did another blast of light blew them apart and made the three of them fly through the front windows of Izzy's diner and the Lady Sif tumbled and landed heavy as she rolled over the top of a car.

"Go! Run now!" Thor said pointing back towards Jane's lab.

Darcy, seeing her friend about to run after him, grabbed Jane's hand and yanked her along. "Oh no you don't woman! We're going this way, not that way!"

Darcy and Jane along with Erik, took off towards the lab, but just as they did another blast came from the giant and Darcy was just able to see that the building that held the Warriors Three burst into a large explosion as shortly after, one of them, though she couldn't see whom it was as they were shrouded by fire and smoke, flew from the building in a burning mass.

The effect of that though caused the surrounding buildings around them to blow as well, showering all three of them with glass, several shards of which Darcy felt cut the skin on her hands as well as her face. Glancing up, she realized that Jane had stumbled down onto her hands and knees and Darcy heard her call out in pain when her hands skidded across the shards of glass on the ground. Erik didn't fare off any better, the blast actually blowing him clean off his feet.

Darcy and Jane rushed to Erik's side helping him to his feet; Darcy grabbing one arm and Jane the other. "No more pancakes for you Mr." Darcy said as the two small women struggled with Erik's heavy form.

Darcy jumped slightly when Sif was suddenly by her side and she reached out and pulled Eric off the ground as if he weighed nothing. Looking over she saw that the Warriors Three were on their other side now, somehow managing to survive the previous attack on them. "We need to fall back!" Prince charming said as they all hobbled back to the lab.

They had almost reached the lab when Jane suddenly let go of Erick's arm and turned around. "Wait!"

Darcy turned and followed Jane's gaze and looked on as Thor walked calmly out to the middle of the street directly towards the giant which marched towards him with the same kind of slow threatening strut. She flinched when the giant easily kicked a car out of the way and was amazed that this small act didn't seem to faze Thor at all.

Thor was saying something to the giant now, though from her distance Darcy couldn't understand what he was saying. After a moment, it looked like whatever he had said seemed to work as the giant turned it's back to Thor and looked as if it was going to walk calmly away. Surprise took her once again though when the giant quickly turned around and back handed Thor, sending him flying several yards away.

"No!" Jane said sprinting after Thor.

"Jane!" Darcy called chasing after her friend.

"No, no, no!" Jane said as she slid to her knees as she reached Thor's side.

Darcy was briefly shocked at the amount of blood that was seeping through Thor's shirt. Jane was saying something to him and Thor was speaking weakly back, but Darcy was paying any attention to what they were saying as the metal giant was now fully turned around and watching them. Maybe it was just the days events or all the adrenaline running through her veins; her heart beating wildly in her chest, but she felt as she it was staring directly at her.

"Jane..." she said warily still watching the giant.

Just as the words left her lips, a tornado of light shot out of the sky directly in front herself and Jane as both of them quickly leaned over Thor, keeping the dust and dirt out of his wounds as much as they could. The wind viciously whipped around them and the sound of lighting striking the sky had Darcy whimpering at it's closeness though she realized that it was giving of a weird vibe that didn't make it feel dangerous at all.

And then just like that, the wind and lightning stopped and as the dust began to clear Darcy could slowly make out a figure standing just before them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Aren't you just an intriguing creature?"

It was then Darcy remembered her thoughts from earlier that morning on how something was off. Well, she supposed she finally figured out what that was exactly as she stared into the eyes of the God of Mischief.


	2. Chapter 2

_Stay Awake_

_chapter completion time - 12:53 pm_

* * *

She should be scared. She should be running.

But Darcy realized then that fear was a double-sided blade that could either turn the tables and empower someone beyond belief with a courageous heart or like an anchor hold them to the bottom of the ocean as it drags you along until it catches something that makes you halt completely. In the back of her mind she knew that it was probably the worst time ever to come up with such an accurate analogy for the current situation, but she couldn't help but think that she was feeling like a pretty beat up and rusty anchor about right now.

She could feel herself begin to shake as she watched Loki slowly stride forward at an almost painfully slow pace to where Jane, an almost dead Thor and herself sat in the middle of a burning, crumbled street. Darcy was smart enough to keep her eyes on him though; not blinking for she didn't think she could trust herself enough to decide if this was a figment of her imagination or not. She probably got hit in the head or something and all of this was just her random ass dreams running wild again. But then again, her imagination never usually included Thor's blood all over her fingers as she and Jane tried to keep said blood inside the blonde lug instead of out of him.

"I must admit to myself that it is curious to see that this is the company that my brother likes to keep while in his exile." he said stopping inches from Thor's feet as his eyes drifted from said brother over to Jane and then slide over to her. "Curious indeed." he said in a heavier tone that made a shiver run up Darcy's spine.

Beside her, Thor began coughing, spurting up droplets of blood as he tried to speak. "L-loki... leave her...be."

Her gaze snapped from the dude with some serious fashion issues back down to Thor as he weakly reached up and tried to grab the arm of her jacket before pulling on it pitifully.

"Thor, stop you're making it worse!" Jane stammered, tears running down her face.

Darcy looked back to Loki again, this time keeping her eyes low and looking up at him through her dark lashes as saw his gaze turn to Jane and his face pull into a sneer. "Silence mortal."

Before she could blink, Darcy gasped as she looked over at her friend to see that she was floating slightly off the ground in what looked like a bubble. Her eyes widened when she saw Jane pound against her surroundings though no sound could be heard.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Darcy didn't even realize what she was doing before she was actually moving as she jumped to her feet and took a few quick strides over to Loki as she did the dumbest thing possible and put her little hands on his rather large chest and gave him a fierce shove. It didn't even move him an inch and instead Loki looked down at her with a brow slightly raised and then a bold grin began to spread across his face.

"Ummm..." it wasn't the reaction she was expecting and neither were the words that stumbled out of her mouth either. "I mean, if you could just let her go and all, that would be great."

She tried to take a step back, but was surprised when his free hand, and she meant the hand that she just realized wasn't holding the rather large looking gold spear, shot out and latched onto her arm and pulled her back to him.

"Who are you?" he asked bringing her face inches away from his as he looked like he was inspecting every bit of her. "Why do I feel as if I've met you before?"

"Uhhh, not so sure dude," she said bring her hand up to his hand that was wrapped around her arm and trying to pry it off but having no luck, "but this is really weird, so could you back up out of my bubble. You're all up in my personal space right now." she said leaning backwards slightly.

Something strange happened then. The dude, she thought she heard Thor mumbled his name as Loki, gave her a confused look, which actually wasn't really weird at all because she knows that she says some random shit every once in a while and that was the reaction that she usually got. It was what followed after that.

It began almost like a soft woosh of air passing through her and she felt an odd sensation of intense curiosity. She looked at Loki, though for some reason he himself wasn't very interesting even though she's pretty sure she's never seen anything quite like him before. She ignored his perplexed look as well and instead her gaze traveled to everything else around her. The buildings, the streets, the sky, she even felt herself looking down at the bleeding Thor laying at her feet. She squinted her eyes at him, passing him over just as she did Loki though when she finally found herself looking at Jane it was out of another intense curiosity. The wind picked up slightly and she held out her free arm, feeling the breeze flowing by and the sensation of it passing over her skin. She brought her hand up to her face, inspecting it more in dept and then looked at her other hand in the same way; moving and wiggling her fingers before her eyes.

"How weird." she mumbled her head snapping up to the sound of a bird flying over their heads. "I know what everything is, but it still feels as if I have never seen, heard or experienced any of this before." she said confused.

Darcy was looking back down at her hands again, moving her fingers experimentally, when she felt a hand under her chin pulling her gaze upwards until she was looking into Loki's pale green eyes. "Who are you?" he asked again.

His words were like a trigger as she felt the woosh of air pass through her again though this time it felt like it was taking all of her energy with her. The breath escaped her lungs and her eyes began to flutter as she briefly saw the concerned look on Loki's face as she felt her knees buckle. Darcy was pretty sure that she was going to end up like road kill on the ground just like Thor was, but through the lull in her mind she realized that she never did end up on the ground. Instead like a lead weight her head thumped against a soft yet firm chest as she felt a pair or arms sweeping behind her shoulders and underneath her knees.

"Dude," she said through slurred words, "put me down."

Loki's arms tightened around her in response. "No."

The warmth seeping through his chest almost seemed to be pulling her in and somewhere in her marshmallow mind, Darcy thought it would be a good idea to just close her eyes and relax into him. Yeah, because nothing feels better than getting cozy with a random stranger that is holding you in his arms over your best friend's bleeding to death sorta-boyfriend.

Yeah, totally feels good.

"L-loki...stop this...madness." she heard Thor choke out again.

"I think not brother. Because I can tell that you, just like myself, feel some kind of connection to this woman, and I think I'll be taking that connection with me back to Asgard." At this he tightened his grip around her and Darcy's only answer was to groan in response, though even her hazy mind she was able to feel his thumb moving up and down her arm in a soothing matter and she wondered if he was doing that on purpose or not.

She was hardly able to open her eyes when she felt Loki begin to move backwards, taking several steps away from Thor. Glancing to her left she was able to see Jane still captive in her bubble prison slamming her tiny hands and fists against her confines as hard as she could. With the little bit of energy she had, Darcy brought a hand up to Loki's chest and used it for leverage as she slowly pulled her head away from him. She sucked in a deep breath, ignoring how good the dude actually smelt, and tried to drop her legs from his grip but he just held fast.

With one good jerk, Loki had her back to where she was seconds ago, head slack against his chest and body limp in his arms. "Oh no you don't, my dear." he began as Darcy felt his words vibrate through his clothing. "You're staying right here with me." Several more steps back and he was speaking again. "This is goodbye brother. Let's hope I'll never have to see you again."

It was a strange sensation when it happened, the beam of rainbow light and frantic wind blazing down from the sky above them to surround Darcy and Loki completely. It was hard to explain, even with her hair-brain mind, but Darcy would have to say that it was almost an out of body experience. At first, she felt herself being lifted up; like zero gravity taking effect, though, Loki's arms kept her locked in place against him. And then the light was flashing before her weak eyes and she was just able to see the Earth suddenly vanish from their feet and darkness surround them. Stars were flashing by them so quickly that they looked like the light left behind when someone traces a sparkler through the air on the fourth of July.

Then as quickly as it started, it was over.

With her eyes shut now, the first thing Darcy could remember about the Realm Eternal was that it was slightly colder than she thought it would be. She could feel herself bouncing slightly in Loki's arms with his quick and powerful strides, and she was just able to open her eyes to see that they were leaving a dome shaped room that had way to much gold everywhere for her tastes. She sighed and still kept her head leaning against Loki's chest, but opted to keep at least one of her eyes open to gauge her surroundings for she knew that Jane would more than likely bombard her with questions about this place when she got back.

If she got back.

Darcy fluttered her eyes open fully and lifted her head, her will resolved to get out of where ever the Hell she was.

"Ah, awake now are we?"

The question obviously came the person holding her in his arms.

"I've been awake the whole time, thank you very much." she said haughty though it came out very much a slur. "Excuse me if it takes a while when after traveling the rainbow road to not feel all like a microwave afterwards."

Darcy felt his stride slow a bit. "A what?"

"A microwave." she said trying to sit up, feeling her strength begin to return. "All hot on the inside and cold on the outside." she explained as she looked around at everything. "Sooooo where are we?"

"We are in Asgard." Loki explained glancing down at her. "And your new home."

That one got her attention.

"Whoa! Wait a minute here." she said as she began to thrash in his arms. "Would you just stop and put me down! Damn!"

Loki scowled at her words. "As you wish."

"Thank you!" she said on wobbly feet and Darcy slapped his hand away when he moved to steady her. "Ok seriously though, you need to back up brosef, because this is all a bit weird to me soooo I think I'm just gonna go now so I don't have to deal with anymore of this."

Darcy didn't even get five steps away from him when Loki appeared in front of her out of the middle of nowhere. "Wha-?! Oh my god! That was freaky!" she said clutching at her chest and beating her heart.

"Enough!" he shouted at her making Darcy's heart skip a beat. "Enough of these babbling words you keep spewing out! You are not going anywhere until I learn as to why I feel as if I've known you my entire life when I've never known of your existence until moments ago!" he spat in a harsh, low words when he saw her shocked expression.

"Okay..." Darcy drawled out while taking a slight step back. "I think I've had enough time candy-land now so I'm just gonna go..." she said trying to walk around him.

Loki's arm snapped out and grabbed hers as she tried to walk by. "As I said before, you're not going anywhere!" he growled and yanked her back in front of him.

"Hey, ow buddy that-!"

Darcy's words were cut short when the dome room that the two of them had just left suddenly erupted with a loud bang and then a bridge of light connected to it's point. On closer inspection, Darcy saw that the inside of the dome itself was lit up with a blinding white lightning touching everything in it's path.

"What the Hell...?"

"Well, well, this is certainly unexpected." Loki said looking towards the dome. Darcy stiffened when she saw him turn his gaze towards her. "If you leave my side, your friends' life on Midgard will be forfeit." he threatened as he reached down and grabbed her hand just as Darcy noticed that his other hand held that nasty looking spear in it once more. How did he...?

"Loki!"

Despite what he had just told her, Darcy jumped out from behind Loki and looked to the direction where the voice had just come from. "Thor!" she called out upon seeing her blonde friend charge towards them. Darcy glanced up at Loki and then down to her hand clasped in his. "Let me go you Final Fantasy reject!" she growled as she tried to free her hand but all she got for an answer was Loki tightening his grip and glaring down at her.

"Loki! Release her at once!" Thor said as he came to a sliding stop just yards away from where she and Loki stood. "End all of this now!"

"You think you can stop me, Odinson?! This woman is so deeply wrapped within the Old Magic that even an oaf like you could see it!" he growled as he yanked Darcy so she was directly in front of him and she didn't miss the was that Loki pressed his chest to her back as he crossed his arm that held his spear in front of her and brought his other hand up to grasp her neck, though Darcy realized that it was more of a firm caress than a choke-hold. "She's not going anywhere until I find out what's going on." he said and Darcy shivered as she felt his hot breath brush the shell of her ear.

"She is not of this realm Loki, and cannot stay here. She belongs back on Midgard with her friends and not locked away from the universe for your own keeping. So release Darcy at once before I make you." Thor said as he held up Mjolnir.

Loki briskly let go of Darcy and moved away from her, a furious look on his face. "You think you can take her away from me?! She's mine!"

A moment passed at Darcy wondered what Thor was going to do next, but she didn't have to wait too long as within a blink of the eye, Thor threw Mjolnir at Loki casting him several hundred feet away from where they stood.

"Darcy, quickly!" Thor said running to her side and grabbing her hand before turning heel and pulling her along after him.

The air was burning in her lungs as she tried to keep pace with Thor's long strides and a small scream escaped her when Thor reached behind him without looking and Mjolnir returned to hand with a loud echoing thud.

"Where are we going?" Darcy called after him.

"I'm getting you home and away from Loki." he said as they entered the dome room again. "Heimdall!" Thor said letting go of Darcy's hand and running to the fallen warrior's side that Darcy didn't notice before. "Heimdall please, you must open the Biforst so we can get Lady Darcy home."

Darcy looked back to the opening of the dome to see if anyone was coming but saw nothing as she turned back to Thor and the fallen warrior as her friend helped the man to his feet before together they plunged his gigantic sword into the key below them. The same lightning from before appeared again and Darcy watched amazed as it stuck numerous places of the dome before the bridge of light appeared out of nowhere again.

"Darcy," Thor said coming to her side, "quickly we must go-oomph!"

Darcy screamed when Thor was suddenly blasted from her side and jumped back slightly to avoid getting hit. She turned and saw Loki stride towards her a crazy yet furious look on his face that made Darcy's stomach roll with every step he took closer.

"You think I will let you go that easily?!"

She didn't answer, her mouth just opening and closing as stumbled backwards away from him, not knowing what to do. He was feet away and was about to reach out for her when he looked behind her and quickly raised up his spear to block Mjolnir as it knocked him back again. Darcy gasped when she felt a heavy hand latched around her arm and looked up to see an apologetic looking Thor gazing down at her.

"Forgive me for this Darcy."

Before she could even ask what he was talking about, Thor picked her up and threw her into the Biforst. The wind and colors picked up viciously around her and the last thing she remembered was Thor's sad face and the sound of Loki's scream echoing in her ears.


	3. Chapter 3

_Don't Say A Word_

_chapter completion time - 7:25 pm_

* * *

Clearly, humans weren't meant to travel the Bifrost so frequently, let alone minutes apart when traveling from realm to realm. Darcy seriously doubted that it's even been tested out either, so she kinda figured that it was karma doing it's magic when she became a guinea pig in a sense when she felt herself tumbling in every direction possible as the Bifrost took her back to Earth.

Something changed drastically though when she felt what could only be describe as pins and needles stabbing every possible surface of her head. She could do nothing about it as she continued to toss and turn through the Bifrost and before she knew it, the air was knocked out of her lungs when her body slammed heavily down into the ground. She sucked in a deep breath of air, or at least tried to, as her brain scrambled when she realized that every time she took a breath, an intense pain would shoot down her spine, making her want to arch her back to escape it but not being able to for her body was still in shock from hitting the ground so suddenly.

Darcy opened her eyes and briefly saw the remnants of the Bifrost retreating into the skies before disappearing completely while leaving a dark and gloomy thunder cloud in it's wake. She pulled her eyes shut and scrunched them closed as she tried to concentrate on anything else besides all the numerous amounts of pain registering throughout her body.

"Darcy!"

That was definitely Jane's voice. So that means that she was at least back on Earth.

"Darcy, please!" There were hands on her face then. Holding her cheeks softly, though Darcy could feel the slight tremble in the fingers. "Open your eyes Darcy. C'mon just open them please. Or something! Do something! Please, just don't be dead." Darcy heard the voice turn towards a high pitch at the end; a telltale sign that it was indeed Jane speaking as that was what she usually did when she got upset.

"Ugh... Jane...?" her words came out in a croaked frog voice.

"Darcy! Oh thank God! You're alright!"

"Darcy, Darcy! Can your hear me?! Say something more, c'mon!" Erik this time.

"I can hear you just fine." Darcy croaked out again. "So stop shouting." she groaned again as she tried to open her eyes but only snap them shut once more.

"C'mon Jane, help me get her to her feet. We need to get out of here, quickly." Erik said as Darcy felt him place his hands underneath her arms and begin to lift her up.

"Why what's the hurry? She needs to take it easy, Erik!" Jane said as she grabbed Darcy around the waist and pulled her up.

"S.H.I.E.L.D will be here soon, and they'll more then likely want to take her in for questioning." he explained as he and Jane both hefted Darcy's arms over their shoulders and began to drag her away.

Darcy's head lulled over to Jane's shoulder as her feet stumbled below her as she lifted her heavy eyes to see the three of them making their way over to Jane's suv. "Here." Erik said opening the back door and stepping in. Darcy reached up and grabbed onto Erik's hands and Jane got behind her and the two of them slowly pulled Darcy inside. Setting her down, Darcy was able to see that Jane sat beside her as Erik hopped up to the driver's seat and began to frantically drive away.

"Darcy," Jane began as she grabbed her friend's hand, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Darcy grabbed her head slightly and struggled to keep her eyes open. "My head is totally spinning right now. I better not get any weird side-effects from this like you do with drinking. I so don't need to wake up with the beer-shits in the morning." she said shuddering.

"It's okay," Jane said grabbing her free hand and ignoring her friend's statement, "take your time."

Darcy took a deep breath before she began, "That dude, Loki, took me to Asgard. I think it was night when we got there, cause you know everything was dark all around us, except well, for the rainbow road we were walking on and the ginormous gold city that it lead to."

"What do you mean, 'rainbow road'?" Jane asked tightening her grip on Darcy's hand. "Can you describe it a little bit more in dept?"

Darcy groaned as the spinning in her head turned to the pins and needles again. "I mean exactly what I said. It looked like a crystal road that had chunks of different colored light crystallized in it. Hence a 'rainbow road'."

"Okay," Jane said nodding her head and giving a faraway look, "What happened then?"

"Loki said something about, Asgard becoming my new home, and he was going to keep me there until he figured out what was happening between the two of us." she said closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall of the suv. "Do we have any aspirin or anything? My head feels like it's seriously being stabbed by tiny little needles."

"What did he mean by that?" Jane asked standing up as she scrambled for the emergency kit and pulled out a small bottle. "How many do you want?"

"What size are they?"

"500mg."

Darcy groaned again. She hated taking any kind of pain medication unless absolutely necessarily, the reason being even the occasionally allergy pill would knock her ass out. She was hands down a total light weight when it came to that sort of thing and usually opted to take naps instead and sleep the pain away. But the pins and needles seemed to insist that she up the dosage this one time.

"Give me two."

Jane dropped the two small white pills in Darcy's outstretched hand before handing her a nearly empty water bottle. She quickly popped the two pills in her mouth and quickly followed with a quick swig of water and almost loosing her cookies then and there for the water was warm and hard to swallow from being in the vehicle all day.

"Oh my god that was gross." she said wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "And no. I don't have any idea what Loki meant by, 'what was happening with the two of us'. I've never met the dude; didn't even know he existed until then."

Before Jane could barrage her with anymore questions, the two of them suddenly flew forward inside the suv when Erik suddenly stomped on the breaks. They both rolled onto the floor, Jane's little body slamming onto Darcy's back, knocking the air out of her once again. "This better not be something that keeps happening to me all the time." Darcy mumbled as Jane climbed off her body scrambling with apologies as she helped her friend off the floor.

"Erik! What the Hell man!?" Darcy scowled at the back of Erik's head.

"It seems," he began as he turned around in the seat to look at the two of them, "that S.H.I.E.L.D has caught up with us sooner than I thought."

They didn't have the chance to ask him what he was talking about as they gazed out in front of him through the windshield and saw several small black cars skidding to a stop before them on the desolate dirt road. Agents upon agents spilled out of the cars, and Jane and Darcy both jumped out of their seats when the side door the suv suddenly opened to show an unamused Agent Coulson.

"Dr. Foster. Dr. Selvig." he said gesturing to Jane and Erik politely. "Miss Lewis. I'm afraid you'll have to come with us."

"You're not taking her anywhere!" Jane said surprising everyone by standing in front of Darcy and blocking her view. "Not this time!"

"Unfortunately, that's not going to be possible, for this has nothing to do with you . This situation calls for Miss Lewis' cooperation solely."

"Jane!" Darcy said catching her friend's attention before she dug herself a deeper hole. "As much as I like staring at your butt, I'd rather not." she said pushing her gently aside and out of the way. "You." she said pointing towards Coulson whom didn't look a bit fazed by Darcy's brashness, "Stop being so damn mean and demanding to my friends. You've done enough of the for a lifetime. You're going to end up frying poor little Jane's brain here with the amount of stress you put on her."

"Darcy!"

"And second I'll come along with you as long as you have some pain killers for this serious ass headache that I've got hammering on my brain right now."

Coulson smiled at her. "I'm sure that we can do that." he said holding out his hand.

"Darcy wait! You can't just go along with this." Jane called as she followed her friend out of the suv and trailed closely behind her.

Darcy stopped and looked to Coulson. "Can you give us a second?"

"Half a second."

"Riiiiight. Okay Jane c'mere." she said grabbing her arm and dragging her away. "Will you just relax already?!"

"Relax!? Relax!?" Jane said incredulously. "Darcy, do you have any idea what they're even going to do to you?"

"They're going to question me. Test me. Then probably question me again." Darcy said holding her head in one of her hands. "They'll probably try to keep me...wherever overnight, which I can tell you right now, ain't gunna happen. Then they'll probably make me go through some kind of security yahoo about all this and then they'll let me go."

A surprised look struck Jane's face. "How do you know that?"

"Miss Lewis!" Agent Coulson called, catching their attention, "It's time to go."

"Look, I'm not sure, but just listen to your phone. I'm sure I'm going to need a ride home." Darcy said walking away.

She was right about S.H.I.E.L.D. They did exactly what she told Jane they would. The questioning took way too long and Darcy found herself wanting to fall asleep several times as she realized that they were simply asking her the same questions over and over just in different wording. The testing portion ended up being slightly more complicated than she had expected. Not the tests themselves; Darcy mainly just sat there the entire time while they hooked up her up to several different machines. When they were done with that, they hooked her up to several more. While waiting for the test results to come in she was allowed a brief reprise as they left her in a tiny little room with possibly the worst tasting coffee in the world.

The situation got complicated when Nick Fury walked into said room two hours later.

"Lewis, Darcy." he began as he opened the file that she just realized that he was holding in his hands. "Born in 1990 in Sacramento, California. Was sent to California State Home for Boys and Girls at the age of nine when your parents passed away in a car crash. From there, despite your nice personality and your, and I quote, 'horrendous mouth', you jumped from home to home until you reached the age of eighteen when you entered the University of New Mexico and major in political science as the only applicant." At this Fury looked up at her and Darcy simply shrugged and looked away. "Strangely enough, you dropped out of UNM and joined on with Dr. Jane Foster as her intern despite her being an astrophysicist and you being a political science major. Care to explain that one to me?"

Darcy grunted. "Not really." but she quickly changed her tone when she saw the look Fury was giving her and sighed. "I mean, uh, I'm a spontaneous person? That's a good excuse right?"

"Don't try me Lewis." he threatened.

Darcy felt her annoyance begin to amount. "What? Why do you people always think that there's some kind of ulterior-motive for everything that everyone does? I wanted a change of pace!" she said her voice rising slightly. "I was walking through the cafeteria at the university and saw an add for a possible intern position that Jane posted up. I'd assume that no one took her up on it because it was in Puente Antiguo, which if you haven't noticed, is in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere!" she finished with a huff. "So I jumped at the opportunity and gave Jane a call and now I've been with her ever since."

Fury was silent for a moment. "So you're telling me, that you have no idea about anything that's happened here for the past couple of days? And that you just happened to catch the attention of not one, but two beings for another world? Yeah, cause that's not hard to believe."

"I don't know what you expect me to say to that one. Cause obviously if you've been up in my life so much, you'd know that I'm as clueless as you guys are." she said crossing her arms.

Fury seemed to regard her again and it's was seriously beginning to rub on Darcy's nerves. "What do you make of this then?" he asked opening the file and turning it for her to see.

Darcy looked at the paper before briefly before looking back to Fury. "You ask that question as if you expect me to know what I'm looking at."

"These are the brainwaves of a normal person." he explained pointing to the graph on the top of the paper. "These are the brainwaves that we just took from you one hour ago. As you can see yours are significantly higher than the average human beings."

Darcy surprised Fury by scoffing at this new information. "Pft, this would have been useful to have knowledge like this a couple years ago. At least then I could have passed my first two years of college a little easier."

Fury flipped the tables by surprising her now. "Well I guess that's all we'll need you for then." he said turning around and making to leave the room then.

"Wait!" she said jumping up out of her seat. "You're just going to let me go then?"

"Oh no, don't get me wrong." he said turning to speak with her. "I'll be keeping my eye on you."

She left the facility without much hassle, calling Jane and asking for a ride like it as any other day. Darcy was in such a daze that she simply drowned out all the questions that Jane was hammering her with as her now super brain seemed to be running like the energizer bunny on crack. When Jane had actually came and picked her up, Agent Coulson stopped the two of them before they could leave.

" . Miss Lewis. A moment please."

"What? What is it you could possibly want now?" Jane snapped placing her hands on her hips.

"Satellite codes." Coulson said handing Jane a piece of paper.

"And what do I need these for?"

"Those are S.H.I.E.L.D satellite codes. Director Fury has allowed you access to our satellites in the hopes that you can continue your research."

"Really?" Darcy raised an eyebrow at the changed tone in her friend's voice.

"Yes. The only circumstance with those before you move the satellites in the direction that you choose, you have to get clearance from S.H.I.E.L.D first and then, if we okay it, we'll move the satellites."

"Wow. Thanks, I think." Jane said as she inspected the paper in her hands.

"Miss Lewis."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Director Fury expects that with you new, 'talent', that you help Dr. Foster with her research." he said before nodding his head and briskly walking away.

"What was he talking about?" Jane asked as they both hopped into her suv.

"Uh, I'll tell you later. Right now, I need sleepy time."

To Darcy, it seemed that time melted away with each passing second after that day.

She worked no more in hand with Jane and Erik and though she didn't want to sound cocky, her new found brain power lead them to further their research than they ever thought possible. That and access to S.H.I.E.L.D's satellites helped a bit too. It was a nuisance though, having to ask for permission all the time just to move a satellite point one degree. So Darcy, with her super brain, might have sorta completely bypassed all of S.H.I.E.L.D's security and firewalls and decided to move the satellites by herself.

No biggie right? She was covering her tracks.

Apparently this new brain of hers liked to work really well with computers. Really well. So even though, she loved helping Jane and Erik it got boring to her after a while just looking up at the stars all the time, Darcy found herself working more on the technical aspect of things.

It was like any other night. Jane, Erik and herself, were just about to leave Jane's lab in search of more stars and whatnot. Jane and Erik were busy compiling all of their data before they left and Darcy was NOT breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D's database out of pure boredom as she waited. If anyone asked, she was just downloading new music to her ipod, which she actually was, she just happened to be multitasking. She had actually just got into something rather interesting; the words, TRESKILION and INSIGHT catching her eye particularly when Jane called out to her in a worried voice.

"Darcy." Jane said coming to stand by her side. "Is there something you're not telling me?" she asked crossing her arms though she had a stupid smile on her face that Darcy didn't like.

"Nope. Nada." she said quickly closing everything on her computer screen.

"Oh, so there isn't a reason as to why Tony Stark just walked into my lab asking for you?"

Darcy's stomach rolled and she quickly spun around in her chair and looked to the front of the lab.

"Why didn't anyone inform me that the person hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D's databases was a babe?"

* * *

Have you ever had the wind knocked out of you? Hurts like a bitch.


	4. Chapter 4

_Figure 8_

_chapter completion time - 5:57 pm_

* * *

"I didn't do it. I swear I didn't do it."

Looking back, Darcy could have punched herself for saying something so suspicious when she first met Tony Stark.

"I've literally said like, one sentence to you and you pretty much just answered any questions that I previously had." Tony said as he calmly strode over to where Darcy was sitting while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Darcy laughed nervously. "Well, you know I do try."

"So now that we got that out of the way and I do know for sure that you're the one hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D, I've got some more questions for you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute tin can!" she standing up and taking a few steps to meet Tony toe to toe. "Don't even think that for a minute that you can just bust in here and start bossing me around like you own the freaking place. This carnival ride doesn't spin that way. Second I know for a fact that I was covering my ass while I was snooping around in those files so the only way that you could know what I was doing was because you were doing some snooping over your own." she smirked when she saw his smile drop slightly. Feeling a bit bold, she crossed one of her arms and then with the other, poked Tony in the chest where she knew his mini arc reactor would be. "Look at you all annoyed that you figured out that your only competition is some little girl that lives in the middle of the desert. But what I wanna know, is why the great Tony Stark is keeping an eye on S.H.I.E.L.D?" Darcy smirked and backed away as she threw up her arms. "Wassup."

Tony just stared at her, stone-faced and the thought briefly crossed her mind that maybe it wasn't such a good idea cross analyzing IronMan. "I think," he began as Darcy swore she could feel her sweat beginning to pool, "I really, really like your attitude kid. Come work for me."

"Um, what?"

"Come. Work. For. Me." he said flashing a toothy smile.

She hesitated. "No."

He blinked. "Yes."

Her right eye twitched. "No."

He smirked. "Yes."

"Dude, no."

"Dude, yes."

"Why me?"

"Let's just say that I have a hunch."

"A hunch? Surly there are other computer programmers out there that you know of that you've had more than a hunch about. So again, why me?"

"Again, you're slowly answering my questions before I even ask them. But if you must know, yes I've been keeping an eye on S.H.I.E.L.D. And yes there are probably more qualified computer programmers out than you. But," he started as he slowly began to walk around the lab and over to Jane's work table as he eyed Jane and Erik. "I won't lie and say that I'm more than curious about what happened in this small New Mexico town a while ago. And how this little girly over here," he said pointing at Darcy, "suddenly has the mind of a super computer. Stuff like that doesn't happen over night. Now I'm sure with your snooping you came across something called the 'Avenger's Initiative', right?"

Darcy crossed her arms and looked away, putting two and two together and knowing where he was going with this. "Right."

"Then you know where I'm going with this." he said as he watched Darcy click her tongue when she guessed right after all.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry," Jane began as she stepped forward, "But I dont' know what ANY of that means."

"And it's going to stay that way." Tony said slightly annoyed with her interference. "Who are you again?"

"So you're basically saying that you want me to work for you because you have a hunch about my computer skills and also because of the fact that I've been to another world?" Darcy asked catching his attention once more.

As she was asking that, Tony walked over to her and pulled out a USB for his pocket and held it up in front of her face. "This holds a dummy program of JARVIS. It's not connected with the real JARVIS but it is in every way exactly like him." he said handing over the USB.

"And what am I supposed to do with this?" she asked snatching it out of his hands and walking over to her laptop and plugging it in.

"Think of it as a test." he said sitting on the table and Darcy began to furiously type away at her computer. "I want you to try and rewrite JARVIS. Though, I will say that I did beef up the security on him a bit more. A nice little firewall that if I didn't know how to get past it, it might even take me a while."

"Done."

"What?" he said coming to stand behind her and look at the screen.

"It's true sir." Tony arched an eye at the sound of JARVIS' voice coming from Darcy's laptop speakers. "Her eminence, Miss Lewis, has successfully rewritten my programming in such a short amount of time. Oh and my name is no longer JARVIS either."

"Oh? And what is it now?" Tony asked sarcastically as he eyed Darcy he looked anywhere but at him.

"I go by the name of JANIS now, sir. And it would seem that her eminence has rewritten me to primarily focus on being a decryption program now, sir." said the distinctly female voice.

Tony laughed as he brought a hand up to rub the bridge of his nose. "Well how 'bout that?"

"I gotta admit," Darcy said spinning in her chair, "There were a couple of aspects of the program that I wasn't quite sure on how to rewrite them, so I kinda just went around them instead." she said with a shrug.

"Well I'll be damned." Tony said in awe as he watched the coding scroll down the computer screen. "Well that does it." he said snapping his fingers and then clapping his hands. "You're coming to work for me. I've got this new project that I've been working on in New York; clean energy the only one of it's kind. So we'll get you moved and then I'll personally begin training you and-"

"Dude! You seriously don't like to listen do you? Or is it you just like the sound of your own voice?" Darcy said cutting him off.

"Uh, that would be a yes, and yes." Tony said without batting an eyelash.

"I'm not going to work for you. I like it here." she said standing up and walking over to where Jane and Erik where standing. "It's quiet here and when I work on the computers here, the little buzzing sound that's been stuck in my head since I came back from Asgard isn't as annoying as it is right now." she grumbled as she rubbed her forehead while ignoring the questioning look Jane and Erik were giving her.

"What buzzing noise?" Erik asked. "Darcy, you said that you didn't feel different at all after you came back."

"Yeah, well I kinda figured how you guys would react so I just kept that bit to myself."

Darcy looked up to see a concerned look briefly cross Tony's face. "You know, if you worked for me we could probably get that checked out." he said in a surprisingly soft voice.

Darcy scrunched her eyes and was about to say something when Jane interrupted again. "Will you excuse us for one moment?" she said grabbing Darcy's arm and dragging her to the other side of the lab as Erik followed after them. "What are you thinking?" Jane hissed in her ear. "You should totally take him up on this!"

"What? What are you talking about?" Darcy whispered back.

"She's talking about the fact that if you worked for Tony Stark then you could use Stark Industries equipment to even further the research then we ever thought possible." Erik said already knowing what Jane was thinking.

"Not only that," Jane began, "But Stark is right, you could have the best doctors in the world trying to figure out with what's going on in your hairball brain right now." Jane said knocking on Darcy head with a light fist.

Darcy smacked Jane's fist away. "But I'll be leaving you guys. I'll probably be with that nut job all the time." she said pointing her thumb over her shoulder at Tony.

"Uh, this nut job heard that!" Tony called over to her.

"You were meant to." she said over her shoulder. "But anyways, I can't just pack up all my belongings and just jet off into the night with Tony Stark. That sounds too much like a bad soap opera. Besides, my life is here with you guys. You're all that I have right now." she said looking down and picking at the hem of her sleeve.

"Darcy," Jane said catching her attention, "We all have to grow up sometimes and we all have to let stuff go. I'm telling to you do this because not only is it a great opportunity to not only work for, but be trained by the Tony Stark, but you'll also be using his equipment for me too." she said with a big smile plastered on her face.

"Jane!" Erik chastised.

"What? At least I'm telling the truth."

Darcy chuckled as she looked at her friends as a whirlwind of thoughts tumbled around in her mind. "I think, I've made up my mind. Did you hear that?" she said turning around and walking back over to Tony. "I'll call you boss only on a couple of conditions."

"Okay, shoot. I'm listening."

"One, I'll come work with you and let you train me a whatever as long as it's part-time."

Tony looked unsure. "We can work on that, but I'm not making any promises. What I've got planned will take up a lot of our time." He changed his pace when Darcy gave him a look. "But I'm sure that we can work something out."

"Two, if Jane or Erik need my help with their research, I'm going to help them regardless of what's going on."

"You're killing me kid. But I get that's also something we can work with."

"And three," at this this she quickly walked over to Tony's side and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Do you really think that we can do something about this annoying buzzing in my head?"

Tony smirked at her and slapped both of his hands down on her shoulders. "The best doctors in the world will be at your disposal. So do we have a deal?" he asked holding out his hand.

Darcy looked at him and then back over her shoulder and Jane and Erik the former giving her two big thumbs up while Erik just seemed to give his knowing smile. "I guess so." she said turning around and grasping his hand.

"Good. Then it's time to go." he said turning around and pulling her along after him.

"Wait! What about all of my stuff?"

"Don't worry about that." Tony said as he pulled her outside and towards a rather fancy looking sports car. "I've already had it packed and sent to New York."

"Please don't tell me this is how you are normally?" she asked in a deadpan voice as he walked her to the car before opening the passenger door for her.

"Kid, this is the only way I am." he said after she got in and slammed the door behind her.

* * *

Two years had passed since that night and a lot has changed in Darcy's life since then.

Working/training under Tony Stark was hands down the biggest change in her life and Darcy could probably sum that experience up in just a few words.

What. The. Fuck.

First thing first, upon her arrival in New York, Darcy was finally able to meet the infamous Pepper Potts; the woman behind Tony Stark. She lived up to everything that the media said about her, which, Darcy liked to just sum up into the word: powerhouse, because that's basically what the chick was.

She had expected Pepper to treat her roughly in the beginning, given Tony's track record for dating fast women, Darcy suspected that she wasn't the strangest sight to behold that walked through the doors. Strangely enough though, the redhead gave her a once over, which Darcy could only deduce that in those few seconds she deemed her not a threat at all because after that she treated Darcy the same way that she suspected that she would treat a dog. Now, Darcy wasn't saying that she treated her like crap, it was the exact opposite though. Like she said, she was treated like a dog. More or less it was like one of those small dogs that got toted around everywhere in designer bags, though in her case, Darcy's designer bag was a high-end sports car instead. Pepper aka, "Tony's Red-haired Powerhouse Mamabajamba", decided that if Darcy was going to be seen with herself and Tony then she could at least dress a bit older instead of "one of those creepy dudes living in their parent's basement playing Pokemon all day" as the both looked to her Spongebob t-shirt. Pepper had also strangely insisted that she move into her and Tony's home as well, seeing as Tony ripped her away from her own home and she currently didn't have anywhere else to go.

Which came to the next big change in her life.

Stark Tower.

Though the penthouse level of the building was all for Tony, Pepper and Darcy's personal living space, the lower levels of the building itself were actually the headquarters of Stark Industries at the moment. The research and development levels of the tower took up most, if not all the floors in the building, and that's where Tony and Darcy spent most of their time.

Darcy was amazed at the amount of information that she was able to squeeze out of Tony's brain, though at times, the man really did act like a machine and Darcy had to remind him that she had to eat and sleep like normal humans did too. It eventually became normal for Pepper to see the elevator of the penthouse to open at the wee hours of the morning to reveal either Darcy or Tony as it seemed the two shared the same enthusiasm for engineering and computer science as the other did. Usually they would crawl back to the penthouse together, though sometimes one would come back without the other, the later claiming that they were on a big breakthrough with whatever they were working on at the moment.

Pepper quickly realized that there was actually someone out there whom turned out to be a bigger workaholic than herself and Darcy had to take the time to explain that it wasn't always like this.

Tony and Darcy eventually filled Pepper in on the situation as to what was going on with Darcy when Pepper had popped back into the penthouse really quick one day to see Darcy strapped down to a chair with several different machines hooked up to her as Tony and a team of doctors looked on. Least to say the redhead might have freaked out a bit and might have yanked Darcy out of the chair before she started in on Tony. The doctors took the opportunity to bolt for the door and Darcy was left by herself to pry the furious Pepper off of Tony. It took Darcy screaming at Pepper that she was fucked up in the head that the redhead finally let go of her grasp on Tony's neck.

Pepper, still freaking out and not believing that they were speaking the truth said that Darcy needed to take a break, as this was all just a result of Tony pushing her too hard. Darcy tried to fight back by saying that it was only like a giant bee was buzzing around her brain and she could still function properly, I mean, look at the progress that she and Tony had made on the arc reactor with Darcy's help. Pepper wasn't having any of that though, and she turned her words against Tony as saying this was all his fault. Tony surprised both of them by (partially) agreeing.

The next thing she knew, boom, New Mexico here she comes.

Darcy wasn't exactly greeted with the welcoming party that she was expecting though. It was nighttime when she found Jane's lab exactly where she left it, and everything inside was exactly the same, just no Jane and no Erik. She was surprised though when she was just about to pick her phone up and dial a number when Erik came bustling through the door.

He explained that Jane had decided to take a break from their research and head to London to visit her mother, when their research hit another dead end. Darcy had to admit, even with her help, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D's and Stark Industries, the research simply couldn't comply with what Jane was looking for. So in the end, Darcy couldn't blame her friend for taking the time off. She was doing the same thing now, wasn't she?

When she asked Erik what he was up to since he was helping Jane at the moment he gave her a squeamish look.

"What'd you do?" Darcy asked suspiciously.

"It's not anything that I did exactly, it's more of payback, I guess you could say."

"Which means...?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D is making me help them with some research on a project since they gave us access to their satellites."

"Those bastards." Darcy said putting her hands on her hips. "I knew they were going to try some stupid blackmail stuff like this."

"Did you?"

"No, I just felt like it was the right thing to say at the time." she said laughing the subject away, though her smile dropped when she saw the look on his face. "Erik, what is it?"

"Do you find it strange that I just happen to appear in Jane's lab the moment you walk in?"

"Now that you mention it."

"Darcy, we haven't used this lab for months now."

"Okay, so basically you're saying that you came here for me. Yeah, don't be surprised, I can put two and two together. So what? Does S.H.I.E.L.D want me to help you now?"

"Yes actually."

"Well shit." Darcy sighed. "I'm going to have to tell Tony. He probably won't be too happy with this."

"Director Fury already did." Erik said grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the lab to his car. "And you're right, Tony Stark was not happy at all about, 'losing his helper monkey to a super spy that needs to go steal his own helper monkey'."

"He said that?" Darcy giggled as Erik quickly sped away. "Hey, so where are we going?"

"It was actually quite convenient, you coming back when you did. Here, in my bag I compiled a file with a brief analysis of the project that I've been working on when I got word that you were coming here."

Darcy reached down at her feet for the bag and pulled out said file, before skimming through it quickly. "Holy shit." she mumbled.

"Holy shit is right." he said glancing at her. "And I've just received a call that the Tesseract has awoken on it's own and we're heading to the facility that houses it right now."

"And what are we supposed to do?" she asked as she saw a small cluster of lights begin to appear in the distance.

"I'm not too sure." he said grimly as they pulled up to a heavy fortified gate.

Anticipation rolled in Darcy's stomach as they rolled past several security gates. They were given little to no trouble at all getting in, the guards directed to be expecting the duo's return and to show them directly to where the Tesseract lay waiting. Darcy quickly followed behind Erik and watched the chaos around them as everywhere she looked people were scrambling to get away from the compound and Darcy wondered why they weren't doing the same.

"Here we are." he said pushing a set of double doors open to reveal a large scale room set up with several computer stations around it.

Darcy saw just beyond her sight the object that they've come to see. "Is that it?" she asked eying the glowing blue square set up in it's containment center. She gasped slightly when cube shot out several small bursts of blue lightning causing Darcy to realize that the buzzing in her mind was suddenly humming louder.

"Darcy over here. Quickly!" he said calling her over to one of the stations. "Look it's spiking again. You saw that data I compiled. This is beyond anything that I was expecting."

"No shit Sherlock. This is way beyond any of that." Darcy said slightly panicking as the levels coming for the cube continued to rise at an alarming rate. "Erik it's reacting."

"Please tell me that's a joke I just heard you say."

Knowing that this was a S.H.I.E.L.D facility, Darcy shouldn't have been surprised to see Nick Fury walking towards them with a stone faced agent following behind closely at his heels.

"Nicky!" she said with a fake smile she plastered on her face. "And no, that wasn't a joke. And if you're as wise as you say, then we need to get everyone out of here. NOW." she said her voice taking a serious tone.

"Now is not a time to get smart with me Lewis-"

Just as he finished his sentence, the Tesseract let out a beam of light shooting off towards a platform yards away. The light stopped there as it pooled into a giant blue sphere of soft, electric light before exploding and shooting a wall of energy over everyone and everything in the room. Darcy stopped paying attention though, for when the wall of light passed over her, the buzzing her mind suddenly became almost unbearable as it seemed to vibrate painfully within her mind causing Darcy to close her eyes and cry out as she crouched down and clutched at her head as the pain continued to increase.

All was quite and when she braved enough to open her eyes and see what was going on and her stomach dropped and she felt a knot tighten in her throat as feat began to choke her.

"Sir, will you please drop the spear!" Fury called out to Loki whom simply looked down at the weapon in his hands before firing a shot of blue light to where the four of them where standing.

Darcy hardly had time to think when Fury quickly dove towards her and pulled her out of the way before the beam of light blew up the ground where they were just standing. Looking to where they just were, Darcy was happy to see that the agent that was with Fury earlier, had pulled Erik and himself in the opposite direction, the two of them escaping the blast as well. Shots from rifles were suddenly being fired and Darcy felt Fury grab onto her arm before wrenching her off the ground and pulling her behind him.

"Keep your head down and stay on my tail!" Fury whispered harshly as Darcy realized that he held a metal briefcase in one hand before grabbing her hand with his other and pulling her along once more.

Several surprised gasps escaped her as Fury pulled her along as the bodies of several agents flew across the room; victims of Loki's wrath. Just when she thought Fury and herself were about to head towards the back door of the room, Fury pulled her over to where the Tesseract was sitting quietly, a gentle blue light coming off it's surface.

Darcy said nothing as she watched Fury open the briefcase before reaching up with a pair of metal prongs and pulling the Tesseract free from it's harness and eitting it in the briefcase before snapping the lid shut and quickly standing erect while pulling Darcy behind him as he faced Loki.

"Please don't. I still need that." Loki said.

"This doesn't have to get any messier." Fury replied.

"Of course it does." Loki began. "I have come too far for anything else. For I am Loki of Asgard and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Darcy heard Erik say.

"We have no quarrel with your people." Fury said taking a step back making Darcy move with him.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot."

"You plan on steppin' on us?"

"I come with glad tidings. Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" Fury asked.

"Freedom." Loki stated. "Freedom is life's greatest lie. Once you accept that in your heart," and just as he said this Darcy peeked over Fury's shoulder as she watched Loki press the tip of his scepter against Erik's chest. "you will know peace." Even from her distance away, Darcy could see the electric blue haze cover Erik's eyes and then making him sigh in ease.

"Yeah, you say peace, but I kinda think you mean the other thing."

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling." the agent that was with Fury previously said as he walked over to Loki's side. And as he faced them, Darcy could see the same blue haze covering his eyes as well. "This place is about to blow. It's going to drop a hundred feet of rock. He means to bury us."

"Like the Pharaohs of old."

"He's right." Erik said looking at a nearby computer screen. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We only have minutes before this goes critical."

"Well then." Loki said looking at the agent.

A scream escaped her when a shot rang out as Fury suddenly fell back, the case falling from his grip and Darcy had no choice but to catch him in her arms as he landed on her and the two of them fell to the ground. Pulling herself up, she placed Fury's head in her lap. "Fury! C'mon Fury wake up."

"Well, well, my darling Darcy. Never would I imagine that I would see your face so quickly upon my return to this realm."

Slowly she lifted her head a looked up to see Loki smiling down at her with a predatory smile sweeping his face.

* * *

Have you ever heard a washing machine when it's off balance? Imagine that for Darcy's brain.


	5. Chapter 5

_Fighter Plane_

_chapter completion time: 9:45 pm_

* * *

_Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck._ Those were the words that traveled through Darcy's mind as she looked up at the almost animalstic gaze on Loki's face.

"Well my dear? I clearly remember you having a snarky comment to make the first time we met. Hmm nothing to say now?" he asked in a mocking tone as he reached down and grasped onto Darcy's arm and yanked her up to her feet.

Darcy winced at the painful pinching sensation his hand left on her arm and tried to yank the appendage free from his grasp but only succeeded in tightening his grip even more. "Okay seriously, if you keep squeezing my arm like that you're going to cut off circulation. And thank you very much, I'd like to keep that arm intact."

She mentally chided herself when the butterflies flapped in her stomach as she looked back to him to see that evil/charming smile appear on his face as he chuckled slightly. "Now there's my dear Darcy."

"Okay, yeah, see? That's another thing. I don't belong to anyone but myself. So just because you come in here all, guns a blazin', with you big bad glowstick, doesn't mean that I'm suddenly yours. With that said, I think I'll be on my way." she finished off as she took a step away only to be yanked back once more.

"You are one infuriating, yet curious creature, aren't you?" he said with another wide smile on his face though it was only there for a brief moment. "I'm afraid you're not going anywhere this time." he said in a deeper more serious tone as Darcy watched as he lifted his scepter and then held it's tip inches away from her chest. "This won't hurt at all." he whispered before pressing the point to her chest.

Her eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips when she felt the cold metal press onto her skin. Then she could feel it. Like a cold flame, it flashed through her body from the tip of the scepter, racing towards her heart and wrapping it in a flame before quickly racing upwards through her spine and towards her head. Though she hardly noticed the buzzing her in brain anymore, it became prominent again slowly becoming louder and louder as she could feel the cool fire trying to move around her in head. It almost seemed as if the buzzing was fighting off the blue flame and Darcy gasped one more time as her eyes flew open and began to look around frantically before landing on Loki and seeing the confused look on his face. A blue haze clouded her vision but it lasted only seconds as Darcy could only explain it as watching water drain from a glass as the blue tint left her vision completely.

She was breathing heavily then, and as she looked back to Loki she could see the quite fury beginning to bubble under his now cool facade. Before either of them could question the apparent lack of control that Loki had over her mind, an invisible force yanked them apart throwing the two of them in opposite directions of the other. Darcy landed heavily on her back but continued to slid backwards before coming to a slow agonizing stop. She winced as she proped herself up on her elbows and looked across her to see a furious looking Loki being helped to his feet by the un-name agent and Erik.

Ignoring the surging pain in her back, Darcy stumbled onto her feet just as Loki began making his way towards her and then began to scramble backwards. Gunshots suddenly rang out around her and Darcy wasn't sure if she meant to duck to the ground or the crumbling facility around shook her down. She was just able to make onto her hands and knees when Fury was suddenly by her side and yanking her up once more. He pulled her along after him and Darcy was able to glance behind her and see Loki and his temporary minions running in the opposite direction as the cumbling ceiling came crashing down between them.

The two of them took the opportunity to bolt in the opposite direction and Darcy didn't protest as Fury pushed her upwards to a latter that Darcy never noticed before. Climbing quickly with Fury right on her heels, she scaled the latter for dear life and after several painfully long minutes, she reached a latch opening and wasted no time in throwing the hatch and heaving the sturdy metal door open.

She pulled herself up and out onto what seemed to be the ground level of the facility itself and as Fury climbed out after her, she looked around and saw a helicopter starting up nearby. By the time she noticed this, Fury was on his feet and once again pulling her along after him.

"Where are we going!?" she called over to him as he helped her into the helicopter's cab.

"Just shut up and sit down!" he commanded and Darcy found herself biting her tongue; her conscious seeing this as not the best time to make a smart comment.

She wasn't annoyed for long as suddenly the copter banked sideways and as the cabin door was still open she was able to peer around Fury's standing form to see a pickup on the ground below barreling straight towards them. Her eyes widened as flash of blue light shot out of the bed of the truck and for a moment, Darcy thought that it was one of S.H.I.E.L.D's agents mistaking them for the enemy. The blue light hit true though, and Darcy held onto her seat with a deathgrip as her stomach rolled as the helicopter plummeted to the ground. You would think that by now she should be used to people pulling her around as Fury reached for her before wrapping his arms around her as the two of them jumped from their ride.

Darcy thought her legs were going to snap underneath her when they landed on the ground, but Fury still had his arms around her and pulled her along with him making the two of them roll forward and tumble several times before coming to a sudden halt on her back. She glanced over and saw that Fury stopped a few feet beside her and that he was moving and she was thankful for sign that he was still alive. Darcy closed her eyes and inhaled when she realized that with every breath she took a sharp pain was stabbing her chest. She began to take shallow panicked breaths as she rolled to her stomach and began to cough violently.

Bringing her hand up to her mouth, Darcy's panic turned into fear as she looked down at her hand to see it covered with splattered blood.

"When will you fools learn that you can't take away what's mine."

Looking up, Darcy hardly had time to see the bottom of Loki's coat whisp past her vision as she watched him stride over to Fury and then proceeded to kick him, sending him flying several feet away.

"Stop!" she chocked out as she rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Don't hurt him anymore!" she began coughing again and she saw Loki turn his gaze to her and she looked down covering her mouth once more as she coughed up more and more blood. It was too much and Darcy fell back over to her side, shallow breathing coming on her once more as she could feel the blood dripping for her mouth.

Loki turned his gaze from her back to Fury. "Be thankful, peasant, that I am in a forgiving mood. But do take note, damage what's mine again, and I'll take your life." And then Darcy watched horrified as Loki lifted his foot and brought it down harshly on Fury's face and she knew without looking that the director was unconscious.

Her eyes slowly rolled to the back of her head and Darcy fought to stay conscious herself and as she tried to pay attention to what Loki would do next. She succeeded on staying awake and mind went towards her painful sharp breaths instead and missed the fact that Loki was suddenly crouching down by her side.

"My, my. Whatever will I do with you?" he said gently grabbing her chin and turning her head to face him. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're worth all the trouble that I've gone through to get you by my side." he said using his thumb to wipe away the trail of blood running down her chin.

Darcy coughed slightly again but still managed to get out a few words. "Piss off."

Loki chuckled as he made his scepter vanish before reaching down and scooping her up into his arms and Darcy cried out at the sudden movement as she snapped her eyes shut. "You see what happens when you are without me?" Loki tsked and Darcy pulled her eyes open slightly to see that he was taking them towards the truck that she saw earlier before hopping into the bed and sitting down with his back towards the cab.

The truck lurched forward suddenly and Darcy cried out at the movement as she felt another fit of coughing coming on her.

"Let's take care of that, shall we?" Loki asked as he placed one of his hands flat against her chest.

She felt herself sighing and then relaxing against his chest as a cool soothing warmth seeped into her chest from the palm of his hand. Slowly but steadily, the stabbing pain began to evaporate and Darcy could feel her breathing begin to even out and she no longer coughed up bits of blood.

Apparently feeling better also meant that Darcy was feeling bolder and loose with her tongue as she figured that the only thing worse that could happen would be Loki killing. "Why won't you leave me the fuck alone?" she grumbled.

Loki hummed slightly before answering, his hand still flat on her chest sending healing waves. "I know you are not daft, and clearly you know as well as I do that there is something binding the two of us together my dear. And just like myself, I can tell that your presence is soothing when you are nearby."

Darcy grunted knowing what he said was true, but choosing to play stupid. "I don't know what you're talking about." she said while wiggling in his grasp.

"Is that so?" he asked removing his hand from her and Darcy found herself whimpering at the lack of warmth.

He chuckled once more and it was beginning to grate on Darcy's nerves as she glared weakly at her feet, refusing to look him in the face; annoyed that he proved a point but placed his hand back on her chest once more.

"Sleep now." he said and Darcy's eyes felt heavy and she struggled to stay away and not bury herself into the warmth of Loki's chest.

"I don't trust you." she said through slurred words.

Sleep crept on her quicker than she thought. "We'll have plenty on time to work on that my dear, dear, Darcy."

Then sleep was upon her.

* * *

Let me tell you about this time that I studied weeks for a college entrance exam that I didn't have to take.

The end.

Sorry about the delay. And the shortness of this chapter. And if there is any grammar mistakes because I'm too tired to care at this point.


End file.
